Topics - r85

What's the most effective way to bargain for more financial aid at a school? I'm received pretty good amounts from USC and Cornell but not much at all at GW. GW is my absolute first choice, but I don't know if I really want to go into that much debt. How can I use the scholarship offers at other schools to get more $$ at GW? How does one even start that conversation with the financial aid people?

When visiting a law school, what's the proper attire? I remember that visiting an undergrad was no big deal, and I see kids walking about my college today with sweatshirts and old jeans. For some reason, visiting a law school seems more formal - maybe I'm just crazy.

Specifically, I'm going to Cornell's ASW in a couple weeks and going to GWU for a simple tour next week. Are jeans acceptable? Should I wear something nicer? How formal exactly is it?

Okay, so if I have three LORs coming, but only one is in, can I still start submitting my apps? I'm just wondering, if the Law School requests my info from LSDAS, only one LOR will go through right now. Will LSAC just automatically send the next one when it comes in?

On LSAC, under Transcripts, the Academic Summary Report is what tells you your LSDAS GPA, your school's average GPA/LSAT, and all that, right? Whenever I click on that, it says, "Transcript Analysis Not On File." I'm still waiting on one transcript - summer class that's going on right now. Will it not calculate even my u-grad's info without this last transcript? Or does it just take a few days to get this?

"LSAC will send your general letters to law schools in the order in which they are received (up to the number required or preferred by the law school)."

Here's my issue: I'm going to ask my current employer for a LOR fairly soon. But I won't see my profs until mid to late August. If my employer's letter gets there first, does that mean it will go out with every application? But what about schools that require academic letters and accept others? Can I ask LSAC to change this?

I just registered for this weekend's law school forum in DC (after reading about it on another thread - thanks . I've never been to one or even heard about one until ten minutes ago. Is it professional or casual dress? Are the workshops worth going to? Any advice on how to make the most out of it?

Here's a little of my background - I'm from a rural area, family is technically lower class, with a complex family structure. I was going to write my diversity statement (for the schools that need it) about growing up in that environment. But I was also considering talking about those elements in my personal statement. Should I leave those topics to the DS? Could I focus on the socioeconomic status that I grew up with in my PS but still address other personal issues in my diversity statement? Any help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!